The lost kingdom
by flaming hunter
Summary: Aincrad falls into the world of RWBY and with it arrive different kinds of people that don't have an alliance with anyone or anything in the world. They care not for the world's politics or desire for whatever the kingdoms want, for they never needed it before.
1. Chapter 1

**I'll be taking some elements from different shows to be able to add to the monster's people and weapons.**

**][][][[][][][][][**

The sound of the castle falling from the sky could be heard for miles alerting all of the creatures both below and above ground, unfortunately only the Grimm decided to see what was going on.

So they arrived in numbers never before seen in recent memory, those that could fly darkened the sky their dark figures only allowed the red glow of their eyes to be seen.

From the ground, those that walked on four feet slithered, or crawled marched as if guided by a greater power.

The people within the castle watched in horror as what could only be called demons approached, villagers, knights and whatever could so much as to be called civilized had no choice but to put their differences aside.

Amongst them were those called Adventurers or Players as they referred to themselves, men and women, no, men, teenage boys, and girls that lived for battle stood.

The Cardinal system, Guardian of the castle and all of its people recognized the danger and so, it revived the players that had fallen so long ago.

They found themselves standing amongst those they thought they would never see again, only to realize that their nightmare had only begun.

Still, the Cardinal knew that it would not be enough, so it did the unthinkable, it released all of the guardians and set them along with all of the monsters of the castle to meet the incoming invaders.

For days they fought, monster vs monster, men women, children all picked up their swords just to buy one more day, until in desperation to keep the people and more importantly the Players sanity intact, the Cardinal released the strongest of its guardians.

The moment Radius entered the battlefield the war ended, with a simple jester of its hand it erased entire sections of the enemy, those that were strong enough to resist this attack fell to its energy blasts.

Those that moved beneath the ground foud themselves held in place by magical vines, easy prey for the monsters that wanted vengeance.

The Players could only stare in wonder as their enemy became their ally, as their injuries were instantly healded and those amongst them that had perished during the fighting were reborn once again.

The final act of the beast was to create a barrier around a wide area around the castle allowing the people to live both within the castle and outside of it.

"**For nine days they had fought, and for nine nights they did not rest. Still, they held, never did they allow the enemy to cross that line."**

**"On the tenth day the greate beast was released and on the tenth day, the war ended."** The people spoke amongst themselves for what they had seen and a statue was placed in front of the entrance to the castle.

Kirito looked listened to the carriages passing by, it's hard to believe that only a few days ago they had faced off against an invasion event, and now everything was quiet.

He allowed himself to just stand next to the statue and just close his eyes, take in a deep breath and relax. Asuna his wife was gathering supplies, Yui his daughter was chasing the other children as they played tag.

They would soon begin to explore the areas around the barrier, the players had been divided into several groups, those that wanted to continue to live their lives.

Those that wanted to continue climbing the castle, these two groups decided to stay inside the castle, these people would be responsible for taking care of the peace negotiations between the people of the land\ the Natives of Aincrad or the Castle, as a lot of people call it, and the Adventurers\ Players.

Those that wanted to explore the outside world, the area around the castle these and these people would be responsible for gathering whatever materials were around the castle and protecting the people that would be creating farmland.

Whatever expansion had been released, it meant that the people and the players could now communicate, now when a person went to speak with one of the people native to the game, they didn't just receive the same lines over and over again, now the player could have entire conversations with the .N.P.C's.

"Kirito! 'he heard Asuna calling to him, it's amazing how sweet the cool spring wind smells and feels, especially when a man opens his eyes to someone like Asuna walking towards him.

Yui ran up to Asuna the moment she heard her mother's voice.

Never in a million years did he think that this scene in front of him right now would ever be something he would be apart of, and yet here he was his wife and his daughter were waiting for him to join them.

When the event started all of the players that were children were sent into the most defended area of the castle, they're still living there, but are allowed to come outside because of the barrier, so the kids that do have families with them, can join in with them and play.

He walked up to his family as Asuna kissed Yui on her forehead.

"So you understand, Kirito and I are going to go and look around outside of the barrier, you'll be a good girl and behave oka." Asuna told Yui who just looked at her with eyes filled with fear, but she smiled at Asuna.

He placed a hand on Yui's head and felt her long black hair, for a brief moment however fleeting it was, he enjoyed the soft feeling of her hair, combined whit just how small her head was.

"We will be back before sundown alright." He said to her before kissing her on the forehead.

Yui for her part only gave them both a tight hug before running back to the other children who kept playing their game.

"Let's go" Asuna said to him, her large brown bag contradicted her white knight armors appearance, the bag simply lacked the elegance her knight armor naturally had, altho he didn't know if it was the armor that had a natural elegance or if Asuna's own, increased the armors.

No, maybe he worded that wrong, maybe the armor only increased Asunas already natural elegance.

"Yeah, that's how it should be said." Kirito thought to himself


	2. Chapter 2

I watched as Yui ran off and started to play with the other children before turning around and leaving the happy scene behind.

They had to inspect the area around the outside of the barrier, the reason was simple, for one they didn't know how large was the barrier, to begin with, the second reason was that if there was anything nearby that could be a threat in the near future, it is better to deal with it now, rather than having to deal with it later.

I could see the rest of the teams gathered together before setting out in different directions, each one of them carried different kinds of weapons.

There had been a massive change in the way the players fought, originally a raid or some form of an event would only require a certain amount of players or guilds, to be present.

Now however after the event...it seems that because of this new event the players had understood that they needed to get along and so it wasn't out of the ordinary to see groups of two running around.

The sound of a grow made stop as a minotaur passed me, the creature walked passed Asuna before stopping at the edge of the barrier, it was only when a centaur walked up to it that the two creatures moved outside of the barrier.

"It's strange seeing the monsters that we once fought against now standing side by side with us and not try to kill any of us" I thought to himself, as I watched the two creatures vanish from sight, I turned to look at Asuna who had her hand stretched out to me.

The moment I took it, I felt Asuna tighten her grip, I could feel that she was just as worried as he was about this new area.

Even if respawning had been allowed now, a player could still feel the pain of the swords cutting threw them, or when their bones would break when one of the creatures would hit them with enough strength to break threw their armors defenses.

I tightened my grip alongside Asuna's before we both stepped out of the barrier, the forest was quiet and unusually so, normally a forest is supposed to be filled with the sounds of animals, or by the very least the sounds of birds.

There was nothing, no sound except the low glows of the monsters that had walked out of the barrier, alongside with the voices and footsteps of the players that were exploring the outside area.

We wouldn't explore too far away because even if teams were exploring the inside of the barrier, there was still a chance that the teas within the barrier could run into something dangerous they would need help in killing the thing.

"Do you see it?" I heard another player talking to his partner.

"Yeah, but it looks old, it must have been abandoned long before the invasion started." his partner answered him.

"I'm calling it in. Can anyone hear me, we've found an abandoned village, I'm leaving a marker on the map so anyone not doing anything, come give us some backup." the first player announced throughout the group chatroom.

I walked up to the two players, and Asuna walked close beside me, the two players turned to look at us, however, neither of them said anything, instead, the two men placed a single finger in front of their lips before pointing in the direction of the abandoned village.

Werewolves had already begun to inspect the village, not everyone had accepted the monsters as allies at the moment and for good reason, a lot of players had lost their lives to these monsters, now they were expected to fight alongside them.

"I'm going in." Asuna said to us, she didn't even wait for me to answer her, immediately the werewolves turned to look at her, however, none of them tried to attack instead they simply backed away from her.

It didn't matter that she was hesitantly approaching them, they simply stayed clear of her, even when she drew her rapier, none of the monsters bothered to even so much as let out a grow in her direction.

The player that had sent out the call for help, followed Asunas's example and walked into the village, but he didn't walk into her direction, instead, he walked into the direction of a house that resembled ma stable rather than an actual building where people would live.

"Ther'es no feces in the stables, he immediately announced those words threw the group chat, this statement caused a lot of players to start joking with one another, as they all answered him.

The man just kept quiet, before he answered all of them. "The village looks from the outside anyway, I haven't inspected it in detail yet, the others are either starting or already looking around."

" But this place is too far away from any civilized area, meaning that these people should have had animals to move around, raise for food or use to help farm, but there's nothing here. No skeletons, no shit, nothing," he answered every one.

It was like if something had come in and erased all of the life that once existed in the village, only leaving the buildings behind as a warning or Grimm reminder to anyone that might have tried to live in the area.

I walked into the village and began to look around, I could see Asuna's location and the location of the other two players, one by one he checked out the houses, and the same scene repeated itself.

Closets filled with cloths covered in dust, rooms that still had their furniture intact, no not intact the furniture was broken by time, not because something had broken them.

This wasn't normal, I did find a few things, however, strange crystals were left behind, as well as some handguns, but the bullets inside the guns were made of some sort of material that didn't seem normal because it seemed to glow whenever he moved the bullet around.

The rest of the day passed by quietly with nothing interesting happening, so when they had finished inspecting the village and the area around it, we headed back to the castle.

For safety reasons no one would keep anything new they found, they would get them back but only after the effects of the weapon's abilities were known, sort of like placing a warning label on dangerous things.

We handed over what we found to the inspectors the guns, bullets, and crystals, while Asuna placed several swords, spears and what could only be called explosives in front of him.

After that, we went to pick up Yui, if things kept going this way, then the event was over and they could go back to simply living their lives.


	3. Chapter 3

[character Change}

The sound of footsteps echoing through the cave could be heard, everyone had gathered it was rare for the entire tribe to be in one place, usually, they would have been patrolling the various floors within the castle.

In the past when everyone was gathered, everyone would begin to laugh just because there were people around them that they recognized, being a werewolf meant that they were enemies of the various kingdoms, that the humans had, rivals to whatever monster was around and prey to the monsters known as Adventurers.

No one was laughing now, there were no greate feasts to celebrate everyone reunion, no contests of strength to show off how much they had improved over the years, no the only thing around was the ever-growing silence.

The sounds of footsteps were beginning to grow louder now, had they belonged to humans, the sound of metal would have followed them, finally, they arrived.

With a mighty how the Greate Woulfe broke his beast form and turned into something resembling a crossbreed between Human and werewolf.

"Negotiations have ended." he spoke, however, his voice sounded more like an angry grow, alerting everyone to his frustration.

"Three sides have been taken, the Humans, the Adventurers, and everything else." Those last words were spoken with such hate that they seemed to poison the very air itself.

Te sounds of bones moving as the Greate Woulfe's most trusted companion changed his form.

"A deal has been made, as a whole, everyone and everything native to the castle is now known as the Aincrad Alliance, or The Alliance for short. However, no lands have been given and meanes no warm welcome's to villages or cities, nither Adventurer or Humans see us as equals."

"Even though we fought alongside them during the invasion!" the second added to the Greate Woulfe's words, the sound of his voice told everyone present that his rage was barely being kept under control.

Slowly the sounds of hoves moving through the stone floors of the cave could be heard, however as everyone present prepared themselves to greet the invaders, the Greate Woulf raised his hand before lowering it again.

He wordlessly told them that there was no threat.

One by one they stepped forward, however, all those present had smelled them long before they could see one another, yet even as they walked the sounds of bones moving and flesh-tearing could be heard by everyone, the new arrivals were shedding their beast forms.

"A deal was made. no member of the Alliance within the castle shall attack another while inside the castle...Luckily for us, there is a whole new world for us to explore."

"The invasion did bring about one good thing however, it allowed the other tribes to set aside their differences and agree to side with us." the Greate Woulf said to everyone, however, he failed to realize that by not choosing his words carefully he had unwillingly insulted the leaders of the other monsters.

None of them said anything about it, not while they were in the werewolves territory, regardless the damage had already been done, and the leaders of the other tribes silently vowed that they would make the werewolves pay for such an insult.

"They see us as nothing more than a Hore of Beasts, so that is what we will call our selves the Horde." the Second announced, before letting out a greate how in celebration, everyone present joined him, everyone except for the third, who had kept quiet and none existent during the entire announcement.

"This is all wrong." he thought to himself, he knew that the Greate Woulf and the Second were right about them not receiving any invitations to live inside the Humans Villages or the Adventures towns, but that didn't change the fact that for generation, the tribes had been the Adventurers enemies and those that hunted he Humans.

Everyone had been there the day the Adventurers numbers grew, and everyone had watched when not once, but twice the dead Adventures returned to life.

"What will happen if the Horde succeeded in completely shattering the truths, if the Alliance was broken then if another invasion were to occur, then the castle might be lost." he thought to himself, as he watched the other tribes begin to fill the cave.

They carried meats, wines of all sorts, captive Human females for pleasure, as well as other things to celebrate the creation of the Horde.

"I need to go patrol before I can join." he told the Second who just closed his eyes telling him, he was free to leave.

Slowly he walked out of the cave, he waked until he was certain that no one could pick up his sent, then he began to move faster and faster, to the point that his feet began to burn and he was nothing more than a blur.

He arrived at the Town of Beginnings, the Holy Land of the Adventurers, it's here where the first Adventurers were said to have arrived and its here where they all started their journey.

He prayed to the Cardenal that he was making the right choice.

He walked up to the entrance of the town and waited in line for his turn, surprisingly none of the knights in front or behind him seemed to care that he was in beast form.

Finally, it was his turn, the guard took one look at him before drawing his sword, in a rage the guard an up to him and he prepared to defend himself only for the knight that had been allowed to enter before the guard had laid eyes on him to stop the guard's hand.

"What are you doing the guy waited his turn." one of the knights behind him said to the guard.

"Adventurers with all due respect he is a monster' the guard answered the adventurers.

"Don't we have a truth at the moment, plus the guy waited his turn." the same adventurer answered the guard.

He had come here to speak to the adventurers, somehow they could communicate with one another regardless of how far they were from one another.

He felt his bones break and shift, as his meat, skin, and muscles tore and rearranged themselves.

"We had a deal, came to warn you. I want my tribe to survive. The rest of the touched, have formed their own Alliance, they call themselves the Horde, spare my tribe should a day come when problems occur." he said to all of those present.

The knight's eyes seemed to harden. "Send out the call and spread the word." One of the knights said to all of the others.

Soon a knight wearing what looked a broken set of armor walked out of the town of beginnings.

"Tell me everything" he said to him and he began to tell everything that he knew.

When he was done telling them everything he knew he could see that the somewhat disinterest looks that most of the adventurers had, were now gone replaced with either anger or worry.

"Go back and when that day comes separate those that won't side with those that want to attack us. We won't kill any of them. Here it's the emblem of my guild, no one can get it unless a member of the guild willingly gives it to them." the knight with the broken armor said to him before he returned to his beast form and returned to his tribe's territory.

He prayed he made the right choice.


	4. Chapter 4

Word had spread quickly amongst the Players, the monsters had formed their own team, it wasn't out of the ordinary after all, they had all fought against groups of monsters made of different types, skeleton worriers, minotaurs, dragons warthogs and so on.

No, what made it news, was the simple fact that it was a monster that had warned them about the creation of the Horde, not only that but from the video shown to everyone the monsters had gained a new ability.

The monsters could now turn in to a mixture of Human and well monsters.

The werewolf that had warned the town of beginnings about what was going on, had become something that had the face of a man, but the pointed ears of a dog, the tail of a dog and the fangs.

However, it had the body arms and legs of a Human, except for the hair on his head, the tail on his rear and brief patches of fur on his hands and feet, there was no fur on the man's body.

This meant that from now on they would have to be a lot more careful with who they allowed entering the towns, villages, and cities that they had under their control.

[Character Change]

The halls of the great palace were silent for the first time in generations no maids were cleaning, no knights trained in the fields, he sat there listening to the quite.

How long had he wanted this, how many times had he expected a calm day, only for one problem to show up after another?

Now he just hoped for something to drive away the silence, the doors to the throne room opened and one of the kingdoms champions walked in.

"Your Majesty, I bring word about what has been uncovered from the exploration of the outside." the man said as he drew a crystal from his pocket.

A light emerged from the crystal before it displayed the form of the castle and the outside area that was protected by the barrier.

"To the east, there is a land covered by dead trees, there is no life there, the creatures dwell therein greate numbers."

"To the west, there are mountains covered by thick woods, the moment the monsters and the adventurers set foot inside them they were immediately assaulted by different kinds of monsters."

"To the north, there is land fit for farming and raising animals, however, there are several abandoned villages, the houses there still have all of the original inhabitants clothing and weapons."

"To the south, we are honestly not sure, all that we know is that there are several caves in the are, and the adventurers have taken control of it." the man told him.

"I see." these were troubling words, however, they weren't out of the ordinary when one dealt with adventurers, after all, no one stops an adventurer when he or she wants something, not even death.

He could tell that the man wanted to say something, but he was keeping his worries to himself.

"Speak your words, no one will know what has been said here except for you and I" he told the man.

"My king, the adventurers can not be trusted, they do what they want. Granted they are small in number, but each one is worth an army."

"The monsters that once hunted our people, are we expected to simply forgive their past crimes, I know that the other kingdoms have sided with us but." the man began to express his worries, but it was better to stop him now.

"The Alliance was formed for these exact reasons, like it or not the old ways must come to an end. You have seen it, just like I have, the adventurers have never been in such numbers, not even when they fought against the agents of death"

"Even as we speak they develop weapons the kinds we have never seen and so our kingdoms must unite, so stand for the Alliance, stand my champion for you and your brothers are Humanities protectors," he told the man, hoping to calm his worries, even though he shared them himself.


	5. Chapter 5

[**Spring.] fate waits for no one.**]

[Kirito]

The alert had come in early in the morning, normally when something like this happens they would have ignored, however, things were changing and so they had to keep up with everything that changed.

So here they were Asuna, his daughter Yui and himself sitting at the kitchen table eating breakfast, as they watched a woman try to explain what had been discovered so far.

"As you can see it was easy to discover what the crystals inside the caves can do, however, they aren't unnecessarily frail, as long as one isn't broke then nothing will happen. "

"Now if everyone please plays close attention to these" The woman who was reporting to the player's everything that had been discovered, so far, showed the guns, bullets swords and shields found within the surrounding area.

She loaded a red bullet into a handgun, before pointing at a dummy that had been set up before the announcement.

When she pulled the trigger and the moment the bullet hit the dummy, an explosion completely destroyed the dummy.

The woman then placed the gun back down before picking up a basic long sword and placing a white crystal inside a small gap that the sword had right where the metal of the blade met with the guard of the sword.

She immediately hit the crystal with enough force for it to break, instantly the sword was covered in a white glow, she never bothered to approach the dummy, instead show just pointed in the dummies direction and sunk the blade of the sword into the ground.

What happened next left him and Asuma speechless, spikes of ice grew from the ground, heading towards the dummies direction, before piercing it and covering it in what could only be called a wall of ice.

This changed everything before the players were forced to only fight at close range, it was true that in rare situations when the conditions were right this wouldn't be the case, but with the discovery of the crystals and the guns found...

No, even if the players had guns that wouldn't put them ahead of anyone, the reason being is what good is having a gun when the person your fighting can just throw balls of fire at you from a distance.

The woman continued her demonstration by placing the sword back down and picking up a shield, this time however she placed not just a crystal but also a bullet inside the shield, she did this by putting it on the side a person holds on to the shield.

A giant rat was brought into the room, the creature immediately turned to look at the woman before baring its fangs at her and charging.

The woman immediately broke the crystal and a wall of electricity covered the shield and the area around the woman, the rat screamed in pain the moment it touched the wall of electricity.

Somehow the woman hit the bullet with enough force that it sounded like if a gunshot had gone off, immediately a what could only be called a wall of water shot out of the shield and hit the rat where it stood, however, the water also carried the electricity that covered the shield.

This made things even more troublesome considering that before a player only had to worry about [poisons or certain kinds of shields that could also be wielded as offensive weapons rather than just for defense, but considering that the shield the woman used was a basic round shield with nothing that looked like it could be used for attacking, meant that even the things that one would expect to simply hit without worry could become deadly in a moments notice.

The woman lowered the shield before picking up the corps of the dead giant rat, somehow the water strong enough to leave the thing covered in bruises where the water had hit it, but what was most disturbing of all was the fact that it looked like if the monster had been burned its hands off completely by trying to keep itself safe from the electricity that had hit it earlier.

"With this, the presentations are now over, now to move on to the next issue. The smiths available are now being tasked with replicating these weapons," she said before smiling.

"Luckily for us players, we don't have to worry about having the weapons to use the crystals effectively, as you all know just breaking the crystals is equal to a grenade exploding."

"With that being said, all players are expected to have a full inventory of crystals for emergencies, simply go to any guild and they will hand the crystals over to you." the woman's face seemed to harden.

"Please make sure to record the transaction and post it, so if there is a guild that wants to keep certain crystals to themselves everyone will know about it."

The announcement stopped and the screen went black, however almost immediately the woman popped out all over again, this time however she was holding a piece of paper.

"By the unanimous vote of all guilds and teams..." the woman's face seemed troubled and seemed as if she didn't want to make the announcement.

"Are they sure about this, this will close our advantage." she asked someone who couldn't be seen.

"By the unanimous vote of all guilds and teams, it has been decided to give the information of the crystals to the Allied kingdoms of Aincrad. The reason being is that if our smiths can't figure out somethings about the weapons and crystals then the people of the land that are skilled in the making of tools and weapons might be able to find other uses for the crystals."

"Wow" Asuna said as she finished her omelet. "So do you want to go pick up the crystals after breakfast?" she asked me.

I was about to answer her when an alert was sent out.

**Security alert incoming airship, an unknown airship is approaching. All Players are to prepare for battle, if you have not received the crystals they will be handed out .**

Asuna turned to look at me, she quickly graved Yui's hand and took out a teleportation crystal.

"I'll take her to the safe zone, go they're going to need you if another invasion is about to happen." she said to me before the teleportation crystal shattered and they both vanished from sight.

There wasn't any time to waste and I ran out the door, I was tempted to use a teleportation crystal and join the rest of the players, however, I chose to run and meet up with the people I knew.

I soon found myself joined by several knights that wore different colored armors and had different emblems on them, each color had a different emblem.

The kingdoms were sending in reinforcements, no one wanted to relive the events that happened during the first invasion.

Finally, he could see a group of familiar faces at the edge of the castle, however, none of them had any time to say anything as the ships began to land on the very edge of the barrier.


	6. Chapter 6

Slowly the smell of dirt and wet fur began to fill the air, for a moment I allowed myself to look threw the corner of my eye and he noticed that it was indeed the monsters.

"Do you see it, the ships they're damaged?" Klein said as he looked at the people walking out of the ships.

"I don't see any soldiers, just a bunch of regular people... one maybe three knights but that's it." I answered Klein as I noticed the three people that walked out of the ship.

The feeling that set in was almost suffocating, a girl with long black hair that wore a black bow on her head was not Human, no she was a monster using its human form.

Behind her, there were two others a girl that was covered in scales, and finally, a man whose body was covered in fur, however, everyone present couldn't help but watch as he helped a woman off the ship.

The only reason anyone was paying so much close attention to them, was simply because the woman was pregnant and the fact that beneath her a small child held onto her hand, and immediately another child took the monster hand.

"This is going to cause problems" Klein said as he noticed the guild leaders walk towards the edge of the barrier, with them were several knights from the kingdoms, however, there weren't any representatives of the monsters amongst them.

The exchange had begun and he could hear the guild leaders speaking to the people that had arrived, through the help screen.

_"Greetings, please we were attacked by a flock of Nevermore." 1_

_"Who are you and how did you find this place?"_

_"We are from the city of Vale, this is what's left of the kingdom of Vles cruise fleet. Please, you have to help us, our ships they can't fly anymore, they need to be repaired." 1_

_"..." _

A heavy silence set in before a knight walked up to one of the guild leaders, the two spoke to one another but their exchange was kept away from the rest of the players listening.

_"As long as you're here you will follow our laws, any long-distance communication is not allowed., we will help you fix your ships, but we want to keep the Alliance away from the rest of the world" _

_"Okay" the man said before walking up to the barrier and realizing he couldn't walk throw it, however when one of the knights stretched out his hand and pulled the man in, was the man able to pass threw._

_This same thing happened over and over again before several knights and a couple of players helped the pilots of the ships move the ships into the inside of the barrier._

"Looks like its time to go say hie." Klein said to me.

"Looks like the defenses of the entire castle have to redrawn...we cant expect to only have monsters attacking from both the inside and outside anymore. Those people aren't going to keep quiet about us." a knight beside them said.

"..." No one said anything, before the help screen light up once more and a video recording was sent through the network.

An old man that could barely walk and seemed to cough blood walked up to one of the guild leaders, however, the old man didn't have the strength to walk anymore and so the boy next to him had to catch him before he fell to the ground.

_"Greetings knights of, I believe you called yourselves the Kingdom of the Alliance. I know we do not know each other, but as you can see I am at death's door, please teach my grandson to defend himself"_

_"We will leave as soon as the ships are repaired," t_he old man said to the guild leader as he tried to push a boy no older than thirteen in front of him bet he was too weak and the boy just kept holding onto the old man.

"We don't train anyone, so I can't give you what you want, however, if you want the boy to be able to defend himself then he will have to go up the castle."

"Old man hear my warning, your grandson will be given food, money, medical supplies, but after that the moment he sets foot into the journey, he will no longer be seen as a boy."

"He will be an adult, a man who all will know has stained his hands with blood. We won't train him to hold a sword, because one learns by doing if this is what the two of you want state your names and we shall begin."

The old man did his best to stand up straight and looked at the guild leader in the eyes. _"I am Alexander Arc a knight of Vale"_

The boy tried to copy his grandfather but he lacked confidence and so he just looked like a little kid copying an adult's way of acting.

_"I'm Jaune Arc" _the boy said.

"Come with me the two of you, we will get you set up."

"What? Kirito the Knights of the Blood Oath, is your guild going to allow an outsider to go up the castle." Klein's words drew everyone's attention, unlike the Players the monsters and the knights couldn't hear everything that was going on.

Every one of them simply stood at the edge of the caste watching the events unfold from afar. So the moment Klein's words left his mouth, was the moment both men and monsters ran back into the castle, no doubt they were going to report what they had just heard.

"Let's go check it out" I answered my old friend, I planned to simply walk to where the guild leaders were located, however, Klein had a different idea and so he took out a teleportation crystal and teleported the both of us to the entrance of the castle.

Being a minor guild, Klein's team wasn't taken too seriously by the larger more well-known guilds, however, because they were a guild, they were awarded certain privileges that solo players, teams and the people of the land weren't.

One of them was being able to enter lands controlled by other guilds, as well as entering meetings and voting on important events.

The moment the two of us arrived where the old man and the teenage boy were being looked after, they found the old man removing the last pieces of his armor and helping his grandson put it on.

"This sword was my fathers, then it became mine. Jaune this shield was my fathers and then it became mine." the old man said before as he gave the boy a look that said that he was waiting for him to say something.

"This sword was my great grandfathers, this shield was my great grandfathers. This sword was my grandpas, this shield was my grandpas and now its mine." the boy answered the old man causing the old man to unwillingly form a large smile on his face.


	7. Chapter 7

"I'll leave the two of you to say your goodbyes." I noticed that it was Godfree the subleader of the knights of the blood oath that was talking to the old mand and the teenage boy.

"He's just a kid." Klein said.

They were about to say something to the boy and the old man but the two soon began to speak to each other.

"Jaune are you sure that you want to be a Huntsman? there is still a chance for you not to and suffer the." The old man said to the boy.

"I want to be like you grandpa, I want to be a hero like you." the way the teen looked at his grandfather made him instantly realize that something, the boy would do anything to follow his grandfather's path and if he didn't train here, he would most likely get himself killed somewhere else.

The old man seemed to come to the same conclusion before closing his eyes and hugging his grandson.

"Learn everything you can, you never went to combat school, so you only know the basics I taught you. When we go home I'll speak to your parents and get them to enroll you in beacon." the old man said to his grandson before letting him go.

I wanted to say something, but what could I have said to him.

The old man pushed his grandson in the direction where Godfree was standing, and I noticed that the old man seemed to realize that this might be the last time he might ever see his grandson again.

"Why don't you go with him?" I asked the old man, the old man turned to look at my direction and lowered his eyes for a moment.

"He won't ever grow if I go with him." the old man answered me before he began to cough.

I felt himself move without wanting to and almost automatically the words left my mouth without me even thinking about what I was about to say.

"Godfree, why don't I teach him the ropes!" I said to Godfree, as the teen was being led into the first floor of the castle.

"You sure about this, he's an outsider so anything that he does will be on your head. Pluss if he dies... it might start a diplomatic incident." Godfree answered me.

I turned to look at Klein and the man just stared back at me, the look in his eyes said, "are you sure, alright man" even though the man didn't even say a single word.

"Yeah, better that I teach him than let him go off without any help, or were you going to show him the ropes?" I asked Godfree.

"No, if he's going in, he's going to have the same amount of training we had...none. So go ahead" Godfree answered me before turning to look at the teen and leaving him behind.

The boy just looked at Godfree as the man walked away.

"Come on, I'll show you where you'll start your journey." I said to the boy and the three of us managed to give three steps before we heard the voice of a young woman.

"Waite!" she screamed, causing the three of us to stop walking.

"My name is Riza Wildman daughter of Volg Wildman, I heard that you will be allowing the rise of Adventurers." she said to us.

The girl had short red hair, a black shirt that only covered the top part of her chest while leaving her stomach and her arms completely exposed.

She wore green cargo pants and white sneakers, there was no way she could have been from the castle, so she must have been someone from the outside.

"Are you sure ?" Klein asked her before the girl just looked at him with an annoyed expression.

"Alright, see that guy, that guys your partner for now on." Klein said to her as he pointed at Jaune.

The girl just walked up to the Jaune before the two looked at one another, she immediately walked right past the boy and walked into the castle.

"Let's go" I said to the boy.

We walked passed the stone walls that separated the inside of Aincrad from the outside world, before the cool wind inside the castle greeted us.

"Welcome to the first floor you two, from here on out the two of you will have to go up. There is a cease-fire between the Humans, the Players, and the Monsters, so don't attack anything unless you're attacked." Kelin began to explain to the two, before pausing and looking at me, he looked at me playfully as if waiting for me to continue the explanation for him.

"Klein tell them everything if you're going to the introductions" I told my old friend.

"Don't you want to do this in turns" Klein answered with a wide smile, but after we looked at one another for a long moment, he broke face and gave in.

"Fine I'll do it, there are monsters that didn't help defend the castle, so those are fair game. You will know who they are because they will attack you on sight, plus there are the Floor Bosses, so you will have to beat them before you can even go to the next floor."

We kept on walking as Klein took out a small crystal from his pocket and showed it to the two recruits, the crystal began to glow before projecting a miniature version of the castle.

"Aincrad has one hundred floors, not counting the dungeons, towers, basement room and the basement itself. Right now you two are on the first floor, so you have a long way to go."

We arrived at the town of beginnings, a place few players wanted to see, unfortunately, several players including those who were particularly powerful were forced to stay here for the time being.

"Alright do you two have any way of communicating by long-distance?" Klein asked the two teens, however, Jaune just took out what looked like a digital tablet and Riza took out what looked like a small red crystal.

"Jaune come here" I said to Jaune before I took the tablet from the boy, I noticed how Jaune looked at me as I searched through my help screen.

To an outsider, the fact that they couldn't see a player using the help screen must have seemed like seeing someone just moving their hands in the air.

Finally, I found what I was looking for and I activated a fuse mechanism that allowed the player to gift something to another player or a person of the land.

I didn't know what would happen if I used this on an outsider, but when I turned yo look at Klein, I noticed that he was doing the same thing with the crystal Riza had shown us earlier.

I pressed on the gift button and instantly the table I took from Jaune vanished from my hand, however, Jaune immediately jumped as if startled by something.

"What's happening?" he asked as he moved his hand in the air.

"I gave you a way of keeping track of everything, now you can communicate with the rest of the players, hear when the guild needs you for a quest, keep track of you inventory ad lots of other things your going to have to figure out on your own" I explained to Jaune, however, I didn't mention the fact that not even I knew how different his help screen was from my own.

"What the hell!" Riza screamed as her hands and feet turned into something resembling wulf paws, however, her hands remained the shape of hands and her feet only became far more muscular, her ears became like those of a beast and thy all had red fur covering them, other than that she was completely Human.

"You got the crystal from one of the monsters didn't you, here take this badge. Its the emblem of my guild, this way no player will try to stop you from entering any of the towns under their control." Klein told Riza as he handed her a badge that had the sigil of his guild.


	8. Chapter 8

"Now about the town of beginnings, the town is different from ordinary towns, and villages you two know, at least I think. Anyway, there's no markers and no way of knowing how to separate one street from another."

"You two are probably thinking, why would the place be built like this, or are they crazy and your right, however, there's a good reason, besides the main area the whole place is built like a maze."

"The reason being, is that people learn to distinguish the cracks on the walls or how the ground beneath them feels, this helps them tell where exactly they are. It helps a lot when you're in dungeons and cant rely on ion your map." Klein continued his explanation as we finally stood in front of the guard.

The guard took one look at Riza before looking at me and Klein, I touched Jaune's shoder and the boy took out what looked like the badge of the Knights of the Blood Oath sigil.

"He told me to show this to the guard," Jaune said to the guard standing at the entrance to the town, the guard looked at the badge that marked Jaune as a member of the Knights of the Blood Oath, However, he soon turned to look in Riza's direction.

The girl for her part acted like if the badge always belonged to her and showed it with pride, the guard didn't say anything, before stepping aside and letting us all into the town.

We walked towards the only place nither Klein and I wanted to ever visit again, but if we were going to show the two new players, no Adventurers how to use the mechanisms of Aincrad we had to go back to the place where everything began.

Back to the center of town, back to the place where the sky turned red before blood began to fall and the creator of sword art online forced them into the death game.

The moment we reached the center of town, both of the teens guild badges began to glow, and both Riza and Jaune screamed.

"Two thousand gold!" Jaune screamed as he watched the benefits of being in the knights of the blood come in.

"What do you mean I was given Blood Rage!"Riza screamed at Klein, however, the guild leader didn't bother to answer her, instead the mans once friendy eyes, were now cold and looked as if he was preparing himself to kill the girl.

'Jaune draw your sword." I said to Jaune as I took the sword I had on my back from its sheath.

Ria didn't bother waiting for an explanation, instead, the girl charged at Klein and because she was directly in front of the man, Klein was forced to make some distance between himself and her.

Unfortunately for Riza, Klein had a lot more experience fighting, despite still being in her partial beast form Riza failed to even touch Klein and with a simple blow to the back of the head Riza fell completely unconscious.

Jaune looked at me with wide eyes, before drawing his sword, I noticed how immediately the sheath he carried turned into a shield.

That was interesting considering that shields were usually seen as too much trouble, considering that if the player wasn't experienced in using them, they were more of a hindrance during a fight.

Jaune didn't waite and charged straight at me, however, his movements were too unnatural, he had the form and swung the sword the right way, he just simply lacked the experience.

I let him chase me around for a bit before I attacked him, I was slow enough to allow him to stop my attack with his shield, however, his victory was short-lived, as I drew my second sword from my side and placed its blade on Jaunes neck forcing him to drop his sword.

"The two of you know the basics now, from here on out your on your own." Klein said before he walked passed, the look in his eyes said that he regretted his actions, but nonetheless he had to do it.

I took one final look at Jaune before I left him standing there next to the unconscious body of Riza.

[Point of View Change}

The families of those that had gone missing had finally arrived, they had all had worried expressions, each one of them dreaded the answer they would receive today.

He hated having to give them the details, especially considering that the Kingdoms, had actually agreed on something for a change.

"Everyone please look at the screen in front of you' he said to everyone present, as live footage taken by the scrows and miniature cameras each person was carrying.

"What yo are seeing is what your loved ones are seeing, notice the strange beast, the Huntsmen that don't have any of the Kingdoms sigils."

"Somehow your loved ones have come in contact with a long lost Kingdom, as of this moment this new kingdom has offered to repair the airships and provide shelter to those you care about."

"Now you all know that that part of the world is covered with Grimm and is a death sentence to even go anywhere near it."

"We are monitoring the situation and we are preparing to retrieve your loved ones, and make contact with those we didn't know survived in there." He said to everyone present, however, he didn't bother to answer any of the people's questions, he had better things t do than put up with emotional people.

"General Ironwood sir" a soldier called out to him, he waited for the man to say what he had to say.

"Look, sir, the number of Grimm in the area are the lowest they have been in years, not only that. If what the airships trackers are true, the area around the barrier around the castle, is being repeatedly cleared of Grimm.

"They're beginning to expand their empire," he said as he looked at the images of the readings.

"How long until we can make contact?" he asked the soldier, the man immediately began to press a few buttons on the screen.

"Five maybe six days sir, the Grimm are being pushed into every other direction, so getting to the new kingdom is proving more difficult than we imagined." the soldier answered him.

"Dismissed" he told the soldier, he didn't like the looks of things, too many unknowns, it was only a matter of time before the researchers of the Kingdom of Aincrad found the transmitters, and even if they did the fact that they were already studying the technology of different kingdoms, would make things even more difficult in the future.


	9. Chapter 9

[Character change Kirito]

I looked at the help screen that had manifested for Jaune, somehow because I was the one that gave it to him, I had access to everything he was able to see, normally this would have been a huge breach in privacy, but as things stood that kid didn't have any privacy.

"This isn't good" Klein said as he looked through Riza's help screen.

"What's wrong? " I asked him.

"I thought that the girl was one of the animal people that came from the ship, but there's nothing here that suggests that in fact, her name fighting style and where she comes from are all from here... I think I accidentally allowed a monster into the guild." Klein said to me, his voice filled with worry.

I was about to say something when I noticed that there was something along the edges of Jaunes's screen something that stuck out from the rest of it, it was like that little window that had a merchant that said let me borrow some money or gems and I'll return twice as much to you when the time ends.

I couldn't help my curiosity and so I clicked on it and I nearly felt my heart stop.

"Looks like we're both in trouble," I said to Klein as I made my help screen visible to other people, the man's worried expression was replaced with one filled with fear and rage.

From what the window said everything Jaune was seeing was being recorded and being sent somewhere, everything from our location, clothing, way of speaking was being analyzed and checked.

There was no way I could keep this to myself, and so somewhat reluctantly I sent the video of what I had found to the guild leaders, Klein did the same, their response was something neither of us expected.

**"We know, keep an eye on them for now"** the message was immediately followed by a video recording of when the ships were brought in to the barrier.

the moment the ships entered the barrier a signal was picked up and somehow Aincrad had located the transmitters, every person that had entered the barrier had a kind of bracelet or necklace that was recording and sending everything to the transmitters.

This was the real reason no one was allowed into the castle, some players went out and searched for the receivers, however they found that even the receivers were nothing more than transmitters themselves, this suggested one of two things.

One Aincrad is in a remote region of the world, and these people were seriously unlucky to crash here, or that there was limited or something was preventing long-range communication.

Still, regardless of any of this, the results were the same, someone already knew we were here and that meant that when the time came we would have to deal with the outside world.

"He Kirito, I just got a message from the higher-ups, they want me to go and check out the mines, from what the message says they want to keep the crystals we found under Human control, more specifically our control."

"So do you want to come with me?" he said to me, but from the way he said it was more of an invitation that said, I don't want to do this alone, because it will be boring, so come with me will you.

"Sure" I said to him and so we made our way out of the castle and we walked past the recent arrivals, we soon found a wagon filled with men and women, villagers from the fifth and six-floor, I didn't notice it at first but they all had an emblem on them, when I looked at it, I noticed that they were from the areas some of the guilds controlled.

The trip was quiet and uneventful, unfortunately, we had to leave the safety of the barrier but we soon found ourselves at the entrance to a giant cave, there were even people already working inside it.

No, they weren't working inside it, there were just so many crystals that they littered the cave walls floors and ceiling.

I could see Kleinmoving his hand in the air as he tried to communicate with someone.

"It's just like you said, there is no way we can hold on to this unless we set up a geed defense force here, when word begins to spread that this place even exists, we are going to have a lot of problems." he said to someone on the otherside.

"We could use some of the monsters" he began to say only for a message to come in whatever the message said or video sent to him made Klein serious.

"Alright, I did my part find someone else to deal with this," he said before walking away from the caves, I hurried next to him and it was only then that I noticed just how many caves there were in the area, we kept on walking and neither of us said anything until we both became bored and decided to just head home.

Klein took out a teleportation cristal and was bout to use it, however, the screams of people reached our ears, we ran back to the cave where the workers were and we found several animal people attacking them, there were a few men that had their hands cut off and others that were already dead.

The animals wore white masks that covered the top of their faces while leaving the bottom half completely exposed.

I drew my swords and without thinking I staved two of the attackers, I didn't need to look around, I could already hear the screams of the dying attackers as Klein killed them, the group was small and they weren't much of a threat.

I immediately took out as many potions from my storage and bean t hand them out, I had to mentally restrain myself from closing my eyes as I heard the bones regrow and the people scream in agony as their missing limbs regret.

I watched as Klein used up all of his potions and smiled.

"We only lost two people, but this proves we did catch peoples attention" he said as he pointed at the guns and swords of the attackers, none of them were native to Aincrad, without a word we both sent videos of the weapons and the strange insignia of an animals head that the attackers had on the backs of their clothes.

The response was almost instantaneous, several players teleported and took both the bodies of the dead, along with their weapons and left behind several potions and weapons for the people to use.

We just stood there hoping for an explanation, but none was given, just to be safe we decided to guard the workers for the rest of the day, soon several wagons arrived and all of the crystals were loaded and we made our way home.

I watched as a system-wide alert was sent out and so I watched the video sent to me.

It was the same woman that had been in the previous video. For a brief moment, I wondered if Jaune was seeing any of this, but from what his help screen said, he had been banned from the chatroom so he didn't receive any alerts.

**"Aright this message will be brief. It appears that we aren't alone in this region of the world, there are hostiles in the area so from now on all settlers are to be trained both in agriculture and in combat."**

**"It seems that it doesn't matter where you monsters will always be monsters." **she said as the bodies of several men and women were shown, as I watched I noticed that they werent Human they were monsters.

There was a man that had a stinger for hair, somehow his hair turned into a needle that still dripped poison, a woman with spotted skin and fangs instead of teeth, a boy no older than ten with wings and the mutation just became stranger.

**"First, I can't believe I'm saying this. If animals are walking around with guild badges they are allies and shouldn't be attacked, we already have enough problems."**

**"Second" **the camera moved to one of the bodies lying facedown showing the insignia of the animal head.

**"As of this moment, anyone or anything that has this emblem is to be considered the same level of threat as Laffing Coffin, we all remember what that team did and we can't repeat those events. We don't have the luxury."**

The camera shifted to the weapons and tools brought in both from the refuges and the attackers.

**"On a more positive note, we do have one advantage to these people, we don't depend on the crystals for power, it looks like all of their technology and just about everything they can do is based around they crystals we discovered." **

**"Even now we are looking throu the history and whatever useful information the attackers so gracefully gave us, so we should be able to replicate some of their technology." **

**"Also for those of you that missed T.V, there are some shows on these things and they are now being released, just go to the entertainment section of your help screen." **

**Thank you for your time" **she said as the video cut off, I watched as the message was still being sent out, but there was something off about it, as the message was even saying that it was being edited.

The various kings in Auincrad watched the message the players had sent in, so there were even hostiles in this new land they said to themselves, however, they were more intrigued by the player's invitation.

In exchange for neutral ground outside, one cave would be awarded to each kingdom that sided with the players and agreed to a nonaggression treaty.

They simply had to agree to defend the caves, this meant all caves not just their own.


	10. Chapter 10

The sound of rain signaled the end of the day and the moment the sun went down Jaun held his partner in his arms, he had moved her underneath a shed however he couldn't find an inn to let them stay, considering she was a stain or one that was touched.

Kiriti returned to his wife's and daughter side both men listened to the rainfall nither slept that night, Jane stayed awake keeping the red-headed woman safe, as he watched creatures he had never seen before move around under the cover of night.

Kirito could not shake the growing sense of incoming danger, he didn't know if this was still a game or if it was real, yet everything from the way the wind felt, to the way his sword felt when he cut someone or something down was too real for it to be fake.

This world wasn't a hologram it was real and he knew he had to keep his family safe, but how could he do such a thing, when the very moment they set foot on this world, everything wanted them dead.

Unknowingly both men had similar goals, but wanted different outcomes, Jaune simply wanted to be a Huntsman and Kirito just wanted to keep his family safe, yet they both agreed on one thing, simply surviving was the most important thing at the moment.

The rain ended and the sky revealed a broken moon, Jaune watched as a creature that looked like a man but was similar to a would watch him from the roof on one of the building, yet it never attacked, nor did it move from its position it just watched him.

[Kirito]

I watched as Asuna woke up and I felt her warm lips, when she gave me a good morning kiss, Ishe immediately began to make breakfast and I hear Jui wake up and begin her morning routine.

We ate together and as I took the first bite, I wondered how Asuna could make something as simple as fried eggs taste so good.

Regardless I still had a job to do, as Jaunes teacher I was responsible for him and that meant regularly looking over the kid, to make sure he didn't die.

By the time I arrived, I found Klein already watching Jaune and Riza from afar.

I noted that Jaune watched as men and women stood in front of a sigh that had light up in the middle of the street his partner was just barely waking up.

"So, they need people to dig up crystals and settlers do they" a man said and I noticed he looked at his old hands.

I noticed that Jaune watched as the tired man suddenly seemed to come to life, the man was old, yet he seemed to regain the strength of his youth when he said those words.

"A fresh start why not? Hell, I'm old, not dead" the man said before walking up to the sign and placing his hand on it, he immediately vanished from sight.

Soon entire families imitated his actions, young and old men left, the same way. Jaune watched as soldiers, or better said knights walked up to the sigh and vanished from sight.

"They're really settling the lands beyond the walls," a woman said as she stood beside him, I watched a boy no older than ten who wore a helmet that was too big for him, Jaune watched the boy hugged what I believed to be his mother and vanish.

Riza finally stood up and looked around, she didn't bother saying anything before she turned to look at Jaune. "Why aren't we inside one of the buildings?" she asked him and Jaune didn't know what to say to her.

Riza scratched the back of her head and pulled Jaune to his feet.

"Fine let's get something to eat" she said before walking to the entrance of the town.

We watched the walk out of the town, neither of them having bought any kind of supplies, we didn't bother stopping either of the recruits because they needed to learn and if that meant learning the hard way then so be it.

They needed to hunt their food and after that gut, it, then cook it, it didn't matter if they left a dead animal body lying around, sooner or later something would come around to eat it, however, they first needed to kill an animal.

I was about to follow them when an alert came in.

"Kirito are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Klein asked me as he looked at his own help screen.

"That depends on what your seeing, but if your message says that we are being ordered to explore beyond the designated areas then yes, I'm seeing the same thing you are." I answered him.

"They're exaggerating, they know we don't have the numbers and yets they still want us to explore the surrounding regions."Klein said to me before an updated version of the map around Aincrad showed up in the message board.

"Not the surrounding regions" Klein said as the image of footprints heading towards the caves that had been attacked the day before.

"This isn't an exploration mission" I said as I looked at the map and I watched Jaune and Riza finally left the town.

The two teens wouldn't be able to see what was about to go on outside of the castle and for a brief moment I wondered if it was for the best, this wasn't an exploration mission, it was an extermination mission.

Already the crystals were being handed out and weapons were beginning to enter the market, I watched as swords and armors that would have cost far more than any player could afford to be sold for less if a person was joining in on the mission.

"My guild is saying they want to enter the mission." Klein said to me, I understood what the man was asking me even if his words were nothing more then hints.

"I think I'll join in too" I said to him as I placed a bet for a special sword, the sword itself didn't have any strange ability, it simply glowed in the dark, but it was sought after because it looked cool.

"Let's go" I said to Klein

[Character change Jaune]


	11. Chapter 11

I tried to bite on the meat but my jaw was still hurt, who knew that hunting a pig was so hard.

Riza ate her half without a care in the world, she's leaving the bones clean, I don't know if the fact that the fire burned the edges of the meat a little bit, even bothers her, she just keeps on eating.

"You need to learn to dodge" Riza said to me in between bites.

"You know how to use that shield of yours but a shield can only do so much, why take damage when you can avoid it. Besides when the person or animal attacks you has its back turned they're completely defenseless" she added.

"...Thanks" I said to her

"Why are you thanking me you're my partner, we fought against those higher up from us and now we hunted our first meal together. Why wouldn't I keep an eye out for you" she said to me before she handed me a piece of meat she had already bitten into, I just looked at it and gave her the one I was eating, before I took the pice she was handing to me.

I tried to eat the piece of meat she gave me but I can barely bite into it, I was about to say something when the sound of plastic breaking reached my ears.

I turned to look at Riza and there was a red wolf, sitting where Riza should have been, I was about to scream and draw my sword when I noticed the pice of meat in its paws or hands.

"Riza if you're going to change tell me" I said to it

the wolf slowly stood up, it turned to look at me and I felt my head hit the dirt, the wolf if heavy and its twice my size, not to mention how strong it is.

"Riza why are you liking me? and sniffing me?" I asked it before the creature looks into my eyes and places its none on mine.

It slowly begins to change, its snout, ears, and fur all start to disappear and the wolf becomes smaller and smaller until Riza is laying on top of me.

"Raar" she said somehow cutely and placed her nose on mine.

Unbeknownst to Jaune, his family had seen everything and so did members of the military.

"I guess I should say congratulations on your son's marriage" a woman said as she wrote down something.

Jaune's mom just turned to look at the woman but before she could say anything the woman began to talk again.

"It seems that they function on a pair system, what I mean is that the higher-ups make a pair man, woman and they go into the world together, each side has their culture and if things work out they spend their lives together."

"I could be wrong, but some places near the borders do the same thing, because of how dangerous Huntsmens lives are, the best option for them is another huntsmen"

"Not only that but its also a way of keeping their huntsmen under control, its as if they were saying we know how to hurt you"

[Jaune]

Riza the foods going to burn" I said to her as I tried to sit down, she may look like if she doesn't way anything, but she's surprisingly heavy.

No, I shouldn't be surprised she's a giant wolf.

Riza who had her eyes closed suddenly opened them and immediately ran to the fire and cut off another piece of meat and gave it to me, I have no choice but to cut it into pieces and swallow it whole, I cant use my jaw for a while, the pig managed to get a clean hit on me.

"Jaune, we have to up the castle and that means you have to get better at fighting and killing, I can't be the only one killing things" Riza said to me before she became quiet.

"The third is going to want to fight you, there is a reason why my father is in that position and earned that title, Jaune if we are going to remain, partners, when that day comes you'll have to fight and bat my father" she said to me.

"Why don't we make that day today?' I heard a man 's voice behind me and when I turned around I found myself staring at a wolf that stood on two legs.

I can't move, the wolf eyes seem to able to see right through me, I want to draw my sword but my body doesn't obey me

"He's weak" the third said to Riza ads he stood over June's unconscious body

"Father I " Riza began to say before stopping.

"Your lucky I don't tear your head off, we finally make an alliance with the Humans and you go and do this, not only that you know that the majority of the time when there are one man and one woman, the adventurers make their packs.

"We can't even get you out of here, do you know what he is, from what clan he belongs to" the third asked his daughter.

"He's a Beater, he's from the black swordsman's group, it doesn't matter what he was before, the insignia is now apart of him"

"Before he leaves the castle and goe back to whatever cursed land he came from, I'll challenge him and when I win, I'll save you from his curs" the third lowered his head and touched his forehead with Riza's.

"Be safe my daughter," he said before he graved what was left of the pig and left both Jaune and Riza behind.

everyone that had watched the conversation between the two wondered what was a beater and why did the third say to his daughter that he would try to save her from Jaune.


	12. Chapter 12

[ Kirito ]

The monster let out a scream of pain if I hadn't been in so many life and death fights before, I would have felt pity for it and its friends.

There were men and women amongst them, some shared some similarities with those we had inside the castle, this made it even more important that we exterminate them before the two could encounter one another.

Underneath their masks, they were disturbingly human.

The rest of the adventurers and the knights from the various kingdoms from the castle had already stopped fighting and had begun to take anything that seemed useful, things like tablets or technology, went to us adventurers, while everything else was meant to be split between the kingdoms and the adventurers.

That included the bodies.

"Hey, did you notice something odd about these ones" Klein asked me as he picked up a sword that laid next to its previous owner.

"Yeah, they had some sort of shield around them and they could soothings the rest couldn't. Maybe they were some kind of field boss or something similar to them.

"We need to start exploring the caves, from there we set up our defenses, what are the ones in charge saying?"

Klein looked at his help screen before he began to scratch the back of his head.

"Apparently if we're not already inside the caves we have to keep watch out here in case something happens"

We both began to walk around, but nothing interesting is happening, nothing except for the sound of gunfire coming from the inside of the caves.

Hours passed and finally, the cleanup crew began to walk out carrying the bodies of the enemies.

Defenses are easy to build because we can teleport the materials directly from the castle, and most of them are already marked to we can just put them together.

The caves are going to be surrounded by two sets of walls one separating the caves from the outside and another one separating the caves from the place where the settlers are going to be living.

The agreement is simple, the town or village is to concentrate on keeping itself alive, all knights and settlers are to keep it secured while guarding the caves.

Like it or not, for now, the settlers are to be the main security around the caves and collecting of the crystals is a secondary task, we simply don't have enough people here.

Regardless our job here is done and our payment is all the crystals we can carry, along with the monster's weapons so I'm okay with it.

Its time to go home.

Two weeks later

[ Jaune]

I watch Riza leave with the Third, her father she had been my partner my firend, she taught me a lot but I failed to beat her dad and now its time to go home, the various airships from different kingdoms are landing in front of me.

Kirito, my handler places his hand on my head as he tries to give me some comfort, I learned a lot here, two weeks living in the castle taught me more about being an adventurer than what I've learned about being a huntsman, back home.

The man never showed up, to help me do anything, he would just send me weapons or say that I was slow in my movements, while at the same time sending me videos of what I had done wrong.

It was because of this, that I knew he was always watching keeping me safe.

I don't know what deals were made or why no one seemed to like each other, but I'm going home, Grandpa is waving at me, he's signaling to me, to get on the airship.

I felt grandpa touch my head and as I look at him he's smile.

"I'll sign the papers you can take the test for Beacon," he says to me, his voice is somehow comforting.


	13. Chapter 13

**Now in other news, the Empire of Aincrad has agreed to allow the Schnee Dust Company to mine some of its dust crystals.**

**Many say that a single mine won't contribute much to the growing demand, while others are completely against allowing a company like the Schnee Dust Company for its past treatment of fanus."**

**"However, there are even more concerns with the Empires statement that it won't allow the Fanus near the mines, stating that Humans and Humans alone should mine and distribute their crystals.**

**When questioned about this, the Empires representatives gave no answers and stated that any further questions about the Empires decision should stop or it would be considered an act of aggression." 1**

**"Now from what information we do have on the Empire of Aincrad for those of you that have been waiting.**

**The Empire has begun to expand its territory simply because they believed it is time, not because they particularly need to."**

**"From what we can understand the numbers of Grymm in the area have lessened and so the empire has taken advantage of the sudden drop in numbers." 2**

**"So how did an empire made of several kingdoms manage to survive for so long in one of the most dangerous areas in the world, isolated from everyone else?" 1**

**"Well from the images given to us, they found a mountain and hollowed it out, we have seen entire forest grow inside caves, they simply made a bigger version of that" 2**

**"What did they do for food?" 1**

**"They have farming, animals and more things like open fields- forests and even entire rivers are inside the mountain so there was little reason for them to leave" 2**

**"Incredible, so that is the news for the day" 1**

I listened to the news on the radio as the taxi drove him home, its incredible that he had only been away for two weeks but, but just riding on a taxi felt like a new experience for him, even if he had done it before.

The taxi stopped and both doors opened he watched I watched my grandfather step out before I did the same and the moment my feet touched the ground, was the moment my feet left the ground.

I found my little sister holding onto me with all of her strength, her bright blue eyes were closed and I can tell she was struggling to hold back her tears.

I could see mom and dad along with my other sisters walking up to grandpa, at least I think they are my family after all the only thing I can see is their feet.

"Hey" I heard my older sister say to me before the sound of her feet reached my ears.

"I should hug you and be happy you're alive, but I'll do that later you need to know somethings before it hits you," she says to me her blue eyes are cold but I can tell she's holding back her feelings.

"Your scroll showed us everything, we saw your training and we saw you fight the Third" I felt her hot tears fall on my face as she began to break down crying.

"Jaune you nearly died" her words were no louder than a whisper, but she was suddenly kneeling down hugging me as she cried.

"Don't worry I'm okay now" I said to her, as I bring both my youngest and eldest sister in a tight embrace as I try to comfort both of them.

"Let's go inside" I heard dad say to us and I notice that there was a man with white hair and matching eyebrows and mustache that were the same color and an expensive-looking suit standing with both my parents.

His eyes were cold and seemed to be measuring me from head to toe even as I stood up, it felt like if I was standing in front of the Third again.

The moment I was back on my feet the man walked up to me and stretched out his hand before I shook his hand.

"Jaune Arc, I'm Jacques Schnee, forgive me for interrupting your reunion with your family, but in things like these things must be done quickly before any window of opportunity closes." Jacques says to me before letting go of my hand and we both began to walk inside my house.


	14. Chapter 14

We were all in the living room and from the looks of it, we wouldn't be having much of a happy reunion.

On the table was a folder that had the picture of a dust crystal on it, but next to it was a folder that had the twin black swords the image of the black swordsman on it.

I picked up the second folder and I found the image of Kirito standing between me and the third, but when had this happen, no I knew when this had happened it was a picture from the time I had fought the third.

"Jaune Arc, the gold swordsman of the house of the twin black swordsman the Beater" Jacques says to me, before he picks up the first folder and hands it to me.

I open it and I find the pictures of two women they were obviously sisters and one was older than I am, but the second was closer to my age.

"Kirito the Black Swordsman has marked you as one of his inheritors, I have already spoken to your parents and they have agreed to the union of our two families" Jacques says to me as I look at the information behind the pictures.

This is something that was going to happen anyway, my family isn't big on you will find someone to marry one day, no my parents would find someone and tell me one day that I was to get married to that person.

Grandpa had done the same to dad and his dad had done the same to him, strangely enough, that's the normal part of it all.

My other moms are also my dad's sisters, for some reason our family has a large number of girls born into it and few boys, grandpa once told me that its the result of us keeping our bloodline pure.

Other families did the same thing, to see who those families were all you have to do is look at the families and find the ones that have the same hair and eye colors, we do marry with other people but that's to make sure we can always become stronger.

My sisters can marry other people, but if they fail to find someone, they will eventually be married to me.

"Did they agree to this?" I ask the man, but he just exhaled.

"It's not their decision to make" Jacques answers me

"Can I have some time to think about this?" I ask everyone and they all softened their expressions.

"Be my guess, however, let me remind you that your master only acknowledged you as one of his inheritors, meaning that you will be removed from the inheritance the moment a boy is born"

"Don't let this opportunity slip from your fingers" Jacques says to me as he turned around and walked out.

The moment the door closes mom hugs me tightly and dad rubs my head, and again my sisters hold me tightly, this time however all of them hold onto me.

"Its time that you start to learn how to handle the family business as well as how to manage a family" my dad says to me, but I can't turn to look at him, because everyone is holding me down.

"You want to be a huntsman, good that will strengthen you, but look in front of you, your grandfather is a war hero but even he left the world of a huntsman behind" dad says to me before everyone finally lets go of me.

"Dad, can I count on you training him while we teach him everything we can?" dad says to grandpa.

"Leave it tome, these old bones were given new strength, I'm almost at my prime again, he will be ready to at least to survive until he can learn to make it on his own" grandpa answeres dad before he stretches out his hand and I immediately hand him back him, my sword and shield.

"First thing is first, let's start from the beginning, what are the ruling houses of Remnant?" dad asks me


	15. Chapter 15

[Kirito]

The sound of metal echoed throughout stone-paved floors, I stood before the ruling houses of Aincrad, one side was the guilds and whatever positions of power the player's \ adventurers had on the other were the representatives of the various kings native to Aincrad.

In all honesty, I could care less about the nobles, it was the players that worried me, the nobles could try all sort of things, but none of them possessed the power nor the political influence to affect the lives or life of any player.

"Kirito you have been found guilty of interfering with a honer duel between your disciple and the Third"

"While the Third may be of the monster kind, he is still an ally...with that being said your punishment will be...a six-day suspension from acquiring any gems," Heathcliff said as he looked around the room.

I looked around and listened to everyone murmuring amongst themselves.

"The monsters will want an example made out of him, so we should do something to make them think we care about our alliance with them" said a woman with bright red hair.

"So a public apology and suspension, anything more would be too much."

"Lighten up man you didn't kill anyone and if you had it would have just been a monster" a fat man wearing a large robe said to him before he burst out laughing.

"You should have seen how worried your expression was, come, boy, I must have you and your wife accompany me and my wife for lunch" the man added as everyone inside the room began to talk amongst themselves.

The man walked passed him and a woman stood at the entrance of the door, she was a lot younger than the man and her figure was nothing to joke about and yet her kind expression seemed to be natural as she spoke with Asuna.

"Ah Sir Kirito, your wife was telling me about your daughter and how she enjoys cooking as a pass time" the woman said to him.

"I'm glad the two of you are enjoying your time together, now that the punishment has been given the only thing left is when the public apology will be done, so until the decision is made let's all go eat" the man said before placing his hand on the woman's waist and leading her out of the courtroom.

The great palace was, in fact, The Great Palace it was a place that had been abandoned long ago during some ancient conflict, in fact, the only reason it was being used right now, is just because of how big it is.

None of the other castles on any of the other floors are comparable to it in size.

Everyone knew that people would eventually want to take over the castle and to put it simply, people just used this mock trial as an excuse to either say that it is a place for our alliance to meet and discuss things like treaties when in reality they were just taking up positions to size power for themselves.

As we stepped out of the room a small cloud of dust fell and made us briefly look up and a startled maid tried to make herself as small as possible.

All around us servants belonging to every kingdom and even some players were busy cleaning up the place, originally this entire palace was one big place where the players had to fight off the occasional monster while looking for lost documents that led to the key to open some ancient door.

Now the dark abandoned castle barely resembled its old self, its windows had color, and the light that shone threw them displayed the stories of long-forgotten heroes.

As we walked the dirt-covered floors, became white stone-paved floors that gave off the smell that they had just been recently mopped.

As we finally stepped outside knights, mercenaries, and all kinds of warriors trained side by side all of them displayed their kingdoms insignia on them.

There was surprisingly a large table already set underneath a large tent waiting for us, even before we had stepped out of the castle.

"Sir Kirito, I fear that I may have overstepped my boundaries, inviting you to lunch in front of everyone but, I hope you understand my excitement."

"To be able to be in the same room as the Black Swordsman, and the Starmaiden, was something I couldn't just pass up" the man said to me, as maids handed us cups filled with tea

"Think nothing of it" I answered him.

"Lady Asuna I'm impressed that not only are you capable of leading a group like the Knights of the Blood Oath but also be a wife and mother all at the same time please tell me your secret," the woman said to Asuna.

Asuna gave a small giggle and I immediately knew it was fake, Asuna never giggles, unlike me, she is used to negotiating with people, and right now she just signaled to me, to not trust the two people in front of us.

"There isn't any secret, I just started young, and I'm afraid that I've lived my life as a knight and so I'll be putting away my sword and picking up the knife" Asuna said as she placed the cup of tea on the table and picked up a knife before using it to spread butter on some bread and handing it to the woman.

"So it's not possible to be a wife-mother and a knight all at the same time" the woman said before Asuna lifted her hand to try and stop the woman from saying anything else.

"I'm afraid not, but it's not that I'm not capable of doing it, it's more like I find that being a wife and mother are things I prefer," Asuna said to the woman who just bit into the bread.

Both the man and I kept quiet as we heard the two women talk to each other, now I understand, this entire thing is just to size us up and see if we are any kind of threat.

"Tell me Sir Kirito, what drove a Beater such as yourself to take up an Heir, the title of Beater is something both hated and respected amongst everyone, everybody from peasants-nobles and even players knows about you and..."

I took a loud sip from my tea and I forced the man to shut up.

"I have to say this is some good tea...judjung from your expression sipping loudly inst a custom we share"

"To be entirely honest with you I merely saw potential in the boy nothing else, if he ailed that would be the end of it if he succeeded then my hunch was right."

"However you must be aware that I couldn't allow someone baring my emblem to die at the hands of a beast" I answered the man who just nodded.

I watched as a butler whispered something to the man and the man rose to his feet before excusing himself and walking back to the castle.

"And that's why I hate politics," Asuna said as a maid laced a plate filled with sausages and a salad in front of her.

Asuna thanked the woman and immediately bean to type something on her help screen and she immediately sent me a message.

Apparently, the two wanted to see if Jaune was my inheritor to both the land Asuna and I own and whatever portions of gold and gems I have in my possession.

While we would be considered the lowest class of nobles, both Asuna's name and my ow are well known and they carry some weight behind them, so politically speaking an arrange marriage was possible.

The problem was that either them or someone else would turn to look at Jui as a potential candidate for a political marriage but Asuna had already blocked whatever plans the two may have had.

That was the reason why the two concentrated on Jaune, but I had destroyed any plans they must have had when I said that Jaune was nothing special.

Another woman placed a plate in front of me and it had the same thing as the plate that had been put in front of Asuna, so with nothing else to do, we decided to eat.


End file.
